G.R. No. L-4353; April 20, 1953
Tan Kay Ko alias Yap Kay Ko, petitioner-appellee, vs. Republic of the Philippines, oppositor-appellant.

FACTS

On March 20, 1950, Tan Kay Ko alias Yap Kay Ko filed a petition for Philippine citizenship in the Court of First Instance of Sorsogon. Notice of the petition was published in the newspaper Nueva Era in its issues of March 17, April 8, and April 10, 1950, and in the March, April, and May 1950 issues of the Official Gazette. The hearing was initially set for July 17, 1950. On that date, the Provincial Fiscal objected to holding the trial, arguing that the six-month period prescribed by the newly effective Republic Act No. 530 from the date of the last publication had not yet expired. The court overruled the objection, postponed the hearing to July 29, 1950, and subsequently granted the application for naturalization on September 8, 1950. The Solicitor General appealed the decision.

ISSUE

The primary issue is whether the petitioner has proven compliance with all qualifications for naturalization, specifically the requirement to enroll his minor child in a school prescribed by the Naturalization Law. A secondary issue involves the compliance with the publication requirements under the Naturalization Law as amended by Republic Act No. 530 .

RULING

The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the lower court and denied the application for naturalization. The Court found that the petitioner possessed all necessary qualifications except one: he failed to prove that his eight-year-old son, Tan Giok, was enrolled in a school prescribed by section 2 of the Naturalization Law. Given this fatal deficiency, the Court deemed it unnecessary to resolve the secondary issue regarding whether the hearing complied with the requisite publication period under Republic Act No. 530 , which increased the mandatory waiting period from ninety days to six months. The application was denied without costs.